The present invention relates to data delivery and communications systems comprising one or a plurality of mobile data processing or communications devices interacting with one or several groups or clusters of networked data delivery and/or transmission beacons.
An example of a mobile data processing device interacting with a fixed device is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,861 which describes the use of wireless telephones with a beacon in the form of an electronic advertisement billboard. The user of a wireless telephone obtains the telephone number of a vendor by activating his/her wireless telephone to transmit a prompt signal to an active advertisement source and to receive from the advertisement source a response signal containing the telephone number of the advertising vendor. The telephone number can then be used to automatically place a call to that vendor via the public switched telephone network. Alternatively, the telephone number can be stored for use later on. This arrangement can be used to place a call to a vendor without having to either memorise the telephone number or to write it down. The signals between the billboard and the caller can be transmitted as modulated infrared (IR) signals.
It will be recognised that an important requirement for such mobile data processing or communications devices is that they quickly and efficiently gather data from beacons such that the user is not required to undertake actions such as staying close to a beacon whilst contact is established between portable device and beacon, nor having to specifically initiate interaction (as is the case with the above-mentioned system in U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,861).
As is described in our pending United Kingdom patent application no. 0020101.2 (PHGB000112), the existing methodology for implementing a radio beacon is to perform a two-step connection process, commencing with the discovery of devices followed by the actual transmission of the information using the same device. Bluetooth, one of the technologies/protocols available for building such systems, requires that the discovery phase is completed before a transmission can take place. When used in a dynamic mobile environment, the time this process takes can often be longer than the actual time the device is in range, causing the information not to reach the client.
Due to the mobility of the clients and the typically small range of beacons, data delivery systems will typically be provided via a networked cluster (or several clusters) of beacons. In consequence, it is not just the time taken for a transaction to be performed that is important since there is still the likelihood that the client will be out of range of a given beacon and will not have received all the service information.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a system for the delivery of data via beacons whereby the transfer of an established link between a first beacon and mobile device to between a second or further beacon and a mobile device occurs relatively simply and without excessive power drain on the mobile device.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for enabling the user of a mobile data processing device to perform a service interaction with a cluster of beacon devices containing a first and plural second beacon devices capable of wireless message transmission, wherein:
a first beacon broadcasts a series of inquiry messages according to a first communications protocol;
the users mobile device, on detecting such inquiry messages, replies with an identifier for the mobile device;
the first beacon device transmits a received identifier to a selected second beacon device;
the selected second beacon and mobile device establish a communications link for performance of said service interaction when triggered by the second beacon receiving the mobile device identifier; and
on the occurrence of a handover trigger event, as determined by at least one of the selected second beacon and mobile device, a further second beacon device is selected and the communications link to the mobile device is transferred to it from the originally selected second device.
The step of transferring the communications link preferably involves the setting up of a second communications link in parallel with the first, and the selecting of which of the two links provides better results according to predetermined criteria, with the step of transferring the link to the further second beacon device only being undertaken if the link thereto provides said better results, and dropping the link not providing the better results. The step of setting up the second communications link may involve duplicating the data paths from the existing communications link.
Alternately, the step of transferring the communications link may commence with the deliberate or involuntary dropping of an existing communications link, followed by the selecting of a further second beacon device, setting up a new communications link thereto, and switching data paths to the new communications link.
In either of the above schemes, the further second beacon device may be selected following transmission of paging messages from at least some of the plural second beacon devices with a subsequent response message transmitted by the mobile device.
The above-mentioned handover trigger event may be deemed to occur when detected errors in a transmitted message exceed a predetermined level, when signal to noise ratio in a message received at one of a beacon or mobile device exceeds a predetermined threshold level, or when signal strength received at one of a beacon or mobile device drops below a predetermined threshold level.
Also in accordance with the present invention there is provided a data transmission system comprising a first and two or more second beacon devices interconnected as a cluster capable of wireless message transmission, and at least one mobile device capable of receiving such message transmissions, wherein said first beacon is arranged to broadcast a series of inquiry messages according to a first communications protocol, wherein said at least one mobile device is arranged to detect such inquiry messages and reply with an identifier for the mobile device, wherein said first beacon device is arranged to transmit a received identifier to a selected one of said two or more second beacon devices, wherein said selected second beacon and mobile device are configured to perform a service interaction when triggered by said selected second beacon receiving the portable device identifier, at least one of the selected second beacon device and mobile device is configured to identify when a handover trigger event occurs and, on detection, to select a further second beacon device and transfer the communications link thereto from the originally selected second beacon device. In a preferred implementation, the said first communications protocol comprises Bluetooth messaging.
Still further in accordance with the present invention there is provided a communications infrastructure for use in the above communications system, and a mobile device for use in the system, as defined in the claims hereinafter, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference and to which the reader is now directed. Further features and advantages of the present invention are also recited in the attached claims, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, and to which the reader is now directed.